If you read my previous post, five of us guys went down the Arkansas River to Greenville, Mississippi. We had been home for a week when Louise and I went on a cruise on the Seine River from Paris to Le Havre and back.
About a year ago, some friends from South Texas started talking about this trip. Louise and I decided to join them and we bought our tickets. As usual, I didn't do any trip planning until the day before (one of my traits which doesn't serve me well)!
We left Tulsa on October 10 and had an uneventful (read that "boring") trip to De Gaulle Airport in Paris. After the trip was over, Louise and I both told each other we would never fly across the pond again without at least Business Class seats! Steerage is so cramped and uncomfortable that it's almost unbearable.
When we got to Paris, we discovered a somewhat major problem - our luggage hadn't made the flight. We filled out the necessary paperwork and left for our ship. For four days, Louise and I wore the same clothes we had flown in to Paris. In fact, it got to be a standing joke on the ship that Edd and Louise were wearing their same clothes again! I did manage to buy some underwear and socks a couple of days out. By the way, French mens' underwear don't have flys but that's another story. Finally, after four days our luggage caught up with us and we were happy campers!
The cruise line we were on, Vantage Travel, did all they could to make our trip enjoyable, as did Sandy and Gregg who were our group organizers.
Our ship, the River Venture, was a typical European river ship and held 138 passengers and the crew. I think the crew numbered about 30. One of the neatest things about a cruise like this is that you get to know a lot of people, most of the people on the ship, in fact. There were 19 people in our group, only four of which Louise and I knew before the trip started. By the end of the cruise, we were all good friends.
Our ship sailed from Paris to Le Havre and back. As the crow flies, that's only a distance of about 120 miles. As the Seine River meanders, and taking time for adventures, it took us 12 days for the round trip.
The list of things we got to see and do is too long to include in this blog but I'll hit just a couple of the highlights. First, and most importantly, was the tour of Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery there. It really is hard to imagine what happened there on June 6, 1944. I would compare it to visiting the National Park at Gettysburg.
One thing that always stands out when we travel in Europe is how much older their culture is than ours. We spent quite a bit of time touring cathedrals and other buildings which were built before Columbus discovered America. It's hard to imagine! We ate lunch one day at a Michelin rated restaurant in Rouen which was established in 1345!
We returned to Paris on October 20 and spent two days there at a dock within sight of the Eiffel Tower. Paris was okay but we really enjoyed all the smaller villages we had seen along the river. I did get a good picture of the Eiffel Tower, though.
Louise and I had a great time but, as we get older, we begin to worry about what might happen if we had health issues while traveling like this. We aren't sure we will ever go to Europe again but, if we don't, this was a heck of a way to end our continental travels!
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